Brazil Trip: Symposium Wednesday

One of the really great things about the programming for the symposium this year was the Wednesday afternoon start… so today was officially Day 1. But the morning was just sketching time. Most people had by now arrived and the fun of working out “where to go sketching and who are waiting for?” had begun. Suhita and I shared a window sill of our hotel for a ‘fill in’ sketch while plans were being formed…. an incomplete and yet complete sketch. I am really having fun developing more and more options for travel sketching – mixing up line and colour – squeezing in sketches when there isn’t really enough time to do so – and working in a way that I can stop at any time.Anyway- the easier place to go sketching was right outside the hotel…. group of old-timer USKers and instructors gathered – and more walked past and joined in till we had an impressive group from many nations. Oh! it is just so special to see old friends again – and meet new sketchers whose work you admire… hard to find the words to express how great this is. We didn’t actually get to see what everyone was doing…so now I have to track down various flickrs/ blogs/ Facebooks to try to see if they have posted their work yet (part of the symposium after-party…. the online follow up!)Here are my two sketches… first of the church at the intersection of the two major street in ParatyAnd then a crazy one of Pousada do Sandi. Ah! all those coloured windows and lights and balconies… all fun to draw.I wanted tea (actually Sue was the one that was desperate for tea not me!) – and after being given a very good suggestion (thanks Chris!) a small group headed off. I don’t know why I had photographers but I was certainly a happy girl drinking this tea… the best tea of the trip – in fact the ONLY good tea I had the whole time…so it was a memorable occasion for me! Such a lovely time with Esther, Sue, William and Nina… very relaxing and pleasant…..And then a few of us went to sketch ‘Marc’s church’ …..Capela de Nossa Senhora das Dores – as opposed to ‘Liz’s church’. Places in Paraty got their unofficial names due to workshop locations! Shocking I know!(Ah! It feels like a real sketchbook now that I have a spread with a tea cup sketch on one side and a building on the other side! ) and a closer view of my sketch…..I was playing with mixing greys and although the sky was grey isn’t wasn’t quite that threatening.Meanwhile at the Casa Cultura the queue was forming for registration… excitement building…As instructors we were told to go away till our faculty meeting… so I turned the corner and found Matt and Suhita sketching today’s high tide… time to join in.It was lots of fun watching the tide swell in and out….and worrying about Matt and his location….Time for official instructions as instructors, meeting the organising team and then the opening ceremony…sketching from the back of the lecture hall…finally sketching my dinner and crazy tea (2 tea sketches in one day!)being sketched by Marc over dinner is always a treat…and finally, meeting Rafa and a gang from Rio and planning a workshop in the week afterward for architecture students in Rio University and our photo shoot for the workshop flyer (yes, always thinking ahead to the next project)

Ok..warmup for the trip now complete… the main act – three full days of the symposium coming up….